Comments on: Kirk Kerkorian Sells Ford Shares

By: Facebook User

Facebook User — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:13:00 +0000

Smart man (but stupid to buy them in the first place).

Ford is a sinking ship…it is only a matter of time before they are fully underwater.

By: rpol35

rpol35 — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:16:31 +0000

This jacka$$ needs to see Warren Buffet for “Investments 101″, you’re supposed to buy low & sell high, not buy low and sell lower!

By: RobertSD

RobertSD — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:03:07 +0000

Captain Kirk is hurting these days. He’s lost a good chunk of his wealth with the implosion of MGM and his inability to see how the crunch in the market generally would transfer to the auto business and hurt his stake in Ford. He just doesn’t have the funds or value in equities to back his stake in Ford, and he has to cut somewhere to shore up his own finances.

Frankly, I never expected him to stick around. Even if his financial situation didn’t go to pot, Kirk and York like to dabble in the auto business, but Ford is not GM or the once-public Chrylser. You can’t buy up enough board seats to wrestle control from the Ford family, and right now the only person the Ford family is following is Alan Muallaly.

I agree the greatest threat is the perception of confidence in Ford.

Kirk right now could not be one of Ford’s lifelines. He was offering an infusion in June because he still had some value in his various equities and the markets hadn’t imploded. Right now, he has nothing to give to Ford. Ford isn’t losing anything except temporary investor confidence as they sort out this move by Kirk.

By: BostonTeaParty

BostonTeaParty — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:56:02 +0000

errr death watch anyone??

By: Gardiner Westbound

Gardiner Westbound — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:34:54 +0000

The Detroit-3 will be at zero within months.

By: menno

menno — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:11:43 +0000

Well thought out, yankinwaoz, except -

that it may not matter what Kirk’s INTENTIONS were, or his reasons behind the move…

the fact that it is likely to be intepreted as a loss of confidence in Ford is disasterous for Ford and the 2.8 in general.

By: yankinwaoz

yankinwaoz — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:09:03 +0000

Have you considered the possibility that Kirk is hurting for cash and had to sell some assets?

His core business, entertainment, is hurting, and is expensive to operate.

Raising cheap capital by bonds or loans has gotten expensive.

So perhaps he had to look at his portfolio and decide what to sacrifice. His thinking might be “I don’t own enough to make the changes at Ford I want. I won’t be able to invest more, so I might as well get out.”

Just a thought… this sale might reflect more on Kirk than on Ford.

By: Geotpf

Geotpf — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:58:32 +0000

This is a vote of no confidence. He’s saying, “I think the stock will go down more.” Kerkorian has been around long enough to know that the stock market (in general) will eventually recover, so now is not the time to sell (in general). But he clearly thinks there is better uses for his money (what’s left of it).

By: John Horner

John Horner — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:57:55 +0000

Ouch, there goes one of Ford’s lifelines.

By: NickR

NickR — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:08:42 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen, we have just lost cabin pressure.

By: Zarba

Zarba — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:05:58 +0000

So he takes a $600+MM loss on his shares.

That’s gonna leave a mark.

By: EEGeek

EEGeek — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:59:06 +0000

He was offering about $8.50 last spring for shares he just dumped at a ~$6.00 loss. Perhaps KK figures that GM/Chrysler will file C11 and drag Ford down with it?

By: indi500fan

indi500fan — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:42:22 +0000

Has Kirk Kerk’s dalliance in auto deals been fueled by sidekick Jerry York’s need to exercise power over his former employers?